lis GILrm's FOEJUST SCENERY. 



rise in perpendicular stems ; but the Fir has this 

 peculiar disadvantage, that its lateral branches, 

 once injured, never shoot again. A grove of 

 crowded saplings — Elms, Beeches, or almost of 

 any deciduous trees — when thinned, will throw 

 out new lateral branches, and, in time, recover a 

 state of beauty; but if the education of the Fir 

 has been neglected, he is lost for ever. 



Some of the most picturesque trees of this kind 

 perhaps in England, adorn Mr. Lenthall's de- 

 serted and ruinous mansion of Basilsleigh, in 

 Berkshire. The soil is a deep, but rich sand, 

 which seems to be adapted to them ; and, as they 

 are here at perfect liberty, they not only become 

 large and noble trees, but expand themselves like- 

 wise in all the careless forms of Nature. Very 

 noble Scotch Firs, also, may be seen at Thirkleby, 

 near Thirsk, in Yorkshire. Nor has any man, I 

 think, a right to depreciate the Scotch Fir till he 

 has seen it in a perfect state of Nature. 



An undoubted claim can be made, by those wlio have 

 seen it in a perfect state of nature, to rank the Scotch Fir 

 (Pinus sylvestris) as both a beautiful and a picturesque 

 tree. Yet, the popular prejudice against it, referred to by 



